Crescent Moon
by Morte-tan
Summary: A detective who transforms into a child at day and the phantom thief who dons his costume at night. What would this magical encounter brings? [KaitoxFem!Shin] [MagicalAU!] [Rating may rise]
1. Prolog

**CRESCENT MOON**

Last edited 20th April, 2016.

Disclaimer: Detective Conan is not mine. Harry Potter is also not mine.

Warning: Female Shin'ichi. Kaishin eventual romantic relationship. Slow-developing plot and romance. Magical Universe. Victorian era hierarchy. Perhaps a very OOC Shin'ichi and Sonoko, please be the judge. Ran-Shin'ichi-Sonoko siblings relationship. Agasa actually has blood-relation with Shin'ichi. Typos and grammar errors everywhere, please be the judge. Kaito is not here yet.

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This is the kingdom of Crescentia. Even though it looks beautiful from the outside, in reality, there is more than just beauty to this kingdom.

This kingdom is magical. Yes, that's right. In here, magic is very common. Therefore, needs an Academy for these talented people to train their magical skills. Magic Training Academy, or commonly known as MTA, is a government-supported school made just for the magic-users to hone their skills in spell-casting. Only people with magic powers, or manna as it were commonly called, are able to casts spells. Manna is like fuel to spells. If the caster doesn't have manna, the spell would use the casters life strings as fuel, which off course would shortened their life. But off course, in this modern life, the numbers of non-magic users decreased drastically since two hundred years ago. The assimilation between non-magic and magic users in more than two centuries ago made the new generations inheriting at least a bit of their parents' manna.

That's why magic users are so common now even though the technology are more advanced and sometimes, even some non-magic user would attend MTA only for the theoretical magic education. But that's not why Kudo Shin'ichi was here.

She is here now, in her class, at MTA, as a senior, together with Ran and Sonoko. They were very unlikely trio, but they managed to get along well. Ran was the mother of the group, always scolding and telling them what they should do, and cook them food. Sonoko, in her personal opinion, is the spoiled child of the group. It was true, though; being born in Royal Family tends to do that to people. A bit selfish and narcissistic, Sonoko always has power to do what commoners usually can't. Shin'ichi herself, in her own honest opinion, is the passive one in the group. She usually just follows what they told her to do and it doesn't matter is she disagrees. Her opinion doesn't matter because Shin'ichi only looks at the world from Sherlock Holmes' books—that's what Sonoko said. It offended her a bit, even though she knew she was just joking. But there is nothing wrong with admiring Sherlock Holmes, right? Books are the only things she has to remember her father by.

Shin'ichi was born with average manna, that is now growing to level S (the level where the manna growth reaches its peak), but with very high IQ. She was born into the Kudo family—it's not a royal family, just an average one where her magic-user mother married her non-magic user father, so she inherited her mother's average manna and her father's intelligence. To be honest, she prefers the intelligence.

Her father was a novelist—a genius one at that. Her father had released seven books and all of them are best sellers throughout the world and two of them had won a world peace Nobel. She has a whole basement of his book collection for remembrance. Her mother was an actress and she had heard everybody had said that she resembles her mother. She remembers that her mother had strawberry blond hair with curls framing her face. Well, Shin'ichi does have curls around her face, but her hair is black, like her father's, and her hair is more wavy than curly.

Well, it doesn't matter, though. They are gone now. Her parents had died three years ago.

Kudo Yusaku and Kudo Yukiko likes to travel the world—had been since Shin'ichi was a young child. Kudo Yusaku was a genius, but he hates working. So he ran away to the end of the world—literally—to escape his editors. As for her mother, well, her mother had always been a hedonist as far as she knew her, so she wasn't surprised that she was the one planning all the trips they've done.

When she was fourteen, the plane they had been riding on malfunctioned and crashed. Nobody survived the accident. And they had promised to be back that week too. Shin'ichi had been growing without her parents almost all her life, but there was a difference between knowing that you have parents who live abroad and knowing that you no longer have any. Shin'ichi mourned a bit, but after realizing that none of her lifestyle had changed since they were gone, she had no problem moving on with her life. It feels better when she decided to think as if her parents decided to move away and never came back.

Off course, her friends, Ran and Sonoko disapproved of that. But Shin'ichi can't blame them. They don't know how it feels to lose a family. Well, Ran lives only with her father, but technically they are just divorced and that is not even official yet. Ran's parents just live in different towns and Ran stayed with her father. Sonoko; even more so. She was born into the royal family of Bell. She was well educated and prepared to be the heir of the Royal family. She never even knew the struggle of not having a place to stay or go back to. Shin'ichi had.

After her parent's death, Shin'ichi's house was auctioned by the government because she wasn't old enough to take care of it. Her house was then sold to the Clover Family, the acquaintances of her parents'. The day her house got sold, Shin'ichi, armed with only a big bag filled with only her clothes and a family album, was sent to the orphanage by the government. She hated that place and after two nights, she ran away. She hated that place with a passion and she doesn't have any intention to come back there. She wandered around town, not knowing where to go and almost got lost to the neighboring kingdom if it wasn't for her uncle, Professor Agasa. Professor Agasa took her in, out from the damned orphanage and into his house and took care of her like his own daughter.

Shin'ichi had known professor Agasa since she was little. She often go to him whenever her parents were gone and cried to him, wondering why her parents never home and asked if it was her fault. Professor Agasa would always patiently patted her head and explain that it wasn't anyone's fault, that her parents loved her, just the way they express their love was different. Shin'ichi didn't understand that time. But now, she does; even when it was too late.

She gazes at her cell phone as she lost in thoughts. Her cell phone's wallpaper is a picture taken by professor Agasa candidly when she was seven. Her parents had returned from flight and were teasing her relentlessly when Agasa told them she cried when they were gone. Her face was red, her mother was poking her cheek, and her father smiled amusedly. She remembered demanding to Agasa to delete it, but she is glad he didn't.

"Shin'ichi! Quit looking at your phone. The class is over already!" Shin'ichi looks up at that familiar voice to Ran's exasperated face and Sonoko's bored one. "You really need to pay attention more to class, Shin'ichi. You do not have as much manna as Sonoko's." She scolds.

Shin'ichi heaves herself off her seat as Sonoko sneers teasingly, "That's the one thing I'm proud of having that she hasn't." Shin'ichi almost frowns. That almost offends her. Sonoko has everything that Shin'ichi doesn't; namely, a family. Sometimes, she gets the feeling that Sonoko secretly doesn't like her and only tolerated her presence because she likes Ran. She had told Ran this, but the innocent girl just brushed it off by saying that Sonoko is always like that and that Shin'ichi was just too sensitive.

Shin'ichi sighs inaudibly and follows them out of the class. They would never understand.

They are talking about girly things that Shin'ichi doesn't care about as they're walking in the school corridor. The juniors are looking at them with slightly awed eyes. She is a bit proud of that, but she reminds herself to not become a narcissist like Sonoko, and quenches the pride she feels bubbling up. It's not just her that the juniors were looking up to; Ran is a magic duel champion and she almost never lose in duel, while Sonoko is the heir to the Royal Family of Bells, which is automatically brings respect and prestige amongst students. As for Shin'ichi, well, she is…

Shin'ichi opens her locker to find hundreds of letters stuffed inside pouring out and fall on her feet. She was just blinking stupidly at all the letters when Ran sighs, "Fan mails?"

She just shrugs and pick up one of the letter. They were all pink, filled with hearts, and smells nice. These aren't just fan mails—these are love letters. "I can't believe you have so many people pouring their hearts to you just because you solve a case or two." Sonoko sighs with exasperated face.

"I can't believe it either," Shin'ichi says in respond. Yes, Shin'ichi is a high school detective—a famous one at that. She has helped the police with countless cold cases and solved them as if they were child's play. The people called her The Young Marple, or The Detective of the East (since she lives eastern area of Crescentia). While the police called her, The Saviour of Crescentian Federal Observance of Magic and Artefacts Force. Such a long title, isn't it?

Ran then tilts her head, "What are you going to do with these?" She asks pointed at the letters on her feet.

Shin'ichi stares at the small mountain of letters in despair. She doesn't want to bring these back home or read them, but she also doesn't want to break anyone's heart. It would trigger unsightly things that she usually seen in cases. Sure, she could use logic to solve cases, but there is no logic to human's heart.

Sonoko, finally feds up with her only staring desperately at the letters, strides up to Shin'ichi and scooped a whole bunch of letters into her arms and casts a teleporting spell. "There. That should help unload the letters to your house easily, doesn't it?" She throws a haughty look at a blinking Shin'ichi before sighing and turned around. "Come on. I'm hungry. Let's eat at Neo—I want their ice cream, my treat!"

Ran cheers at the mention of ice cream. "Come on, Shin'ichi. Let's teleport these letters to your house, then we'll eat some ice cream."

Shin'ichi silently nods and casts a simple teleporting spell to those letters until the last ones begins to fade away. She spares a glance at Sonoko. It's true that sometimes she feels that Sonoko only tolerating her presence, but sometimes it also feels like she genuinely regrets every hurtful comments she threw at Shin'ichi. She smiles. She will see this as an apology from Sonoko that has never came out from her lips.

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"I won the duel tournament last week, you know." Ran states to Shin'ichi as the former licks the remains of her green-tea-flavoured ice cream.

"I know," Shin'ichi responds while still chewing her cheese sandwich.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Ran scolds softly before glaring at her. "You promised we will go to amusement park when I won."

At that, Shin'ichi looks up at her, "I did?"

Both Ran and Sonoko groan. "Really, what else do you remember in that pretty little head of yours besides your books, Holmes-freak?" Sonoko asks in exasperation.

"You said you will go with us to amusement park! Sonoko had wanted to try their new roller coaster." Ran impatiently reminds her.

Sonoko gestures to Shin'ichi in agitation, "I've been dying to try that new roller coaster! We have to go there, like tomorrow!"

Hearing that, Shin'ichi frowns in disagreement. "Tomorrow? But—"

"No buts, Shin'ichi!" Shin'ichi tries to protest before Ran cuts her off. "We will go to that amusement park! You've been doing nothing but holing yourself up in your library lately, and that is not healthy!"

"What's wrong with adding more information to my brain?" Shin'ichi argues.

"There nothing wrong with that, but staying at home for too long is wrong." Ran responds.

"I am not staying at home _all_ the time," Shin'ichi replies again. "I go to school with you guys."

"That doesn't count!" Now it's Sonoko's turn to cut her off. "Anyway, I don't care what you think! You _will_ go to Tropical Land with us tomorrow, whether you like it or not! I won't accept any excuses!"

"What if I don't have any money?" Shin'ichi still tries to bargain her way out of this, even though her chance is dwindling with her every attempt.

"Then I'll pay!" Sonoko plays her 'Heiress' card as she closes the debate. "Wear something nice for tomorrow. We're gonna hunt for handsome men! Finally, a day came for me to hunt for the perfect man to be wed as an heir to the Royal House of Bells!" She cheers in joy as she lifted up her chocolate float to the air, mimicking a kampai.

"I thought you say we're going to ride that damned roller coaster." Shin'ichi mumbles quietly.

Apparently Ran hears her, "We will. You know how Sonoko is." She answers with a patient smile.

Shin'ichi rolls her eyes and resumes eating her sandwich. So apparently she will go to Tropical Land tomorrow anyway, so she has to finish that new book tonight.

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"That's good, Shin'ichi-kun. You should go out more often." Professor Agasa says without looking away from whatever he's been working on.

Shin'ichi groans out loud from in front of the TV, "Not you too, Professor."

"But Ran-kun is right, you know. It is scientifically proved that spending too much time indoor will lead to depression and decrease of immunity system." Professor argues back, again without looking away from his table.

Shin'ichi rolls her eyes, "Yes, yes, I've read about that too."

"Then you should go with them. This is a good chance for you to work out, soak in the sun, form bonds with your friends, and perhaps meeting new people. It's good for your health. _And_ Sonoko will pay for your expenses. Technically, you have nothing to lose." He reminds her as he finally looks up from his table to smile at his charge. "It's been a while since you go out with Sonoko-san and Ran-kun too. I was beginning to get worried, you know."

Seeing the look the professor sent her, Shin'ichi can't help but feel guilt. "Yeah. I know. I'm sorry, professor."

"It's okay, Shin'ichi-kun. I understand that you're not a people person and you're busy as an aspiring young detective—but you should at least take time to stop and watch to flower, so they said." He speaks as he looks at Shin'ichi fondly before the gadget in front of him suddenly explodes in small blast, but it doesn't stop the burns on his face, hair, and white jacket.

Shin'ichi coughed up some of the smoke and fanning the air around her, "Professor? Are you okay?" She asks with concern, but also with no small amount of amusement.

"Yes. This is the third time this blasted thing explodes in front of me. Darn it!" He curses in a very old-man way. This sends Shin'ichi to a fit of giggles.

"Do you need any help?" She asks.

"No, it's okay. I'll clean this up myself," The graying old man speaks as he heaves himself up from his sitting position. He arches his back, and sighs with satisfaction when he feels some cracks. " _You_ should go to sleep and prepare for tomorrow, Shin'ichi-kun."

At that reprimand, Shin'ichi groans again for the nth time that day.

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Ran is crying openly, while Sonoko struggles not to let her feelings show, but it is clear that the brown-haired girl is also disturbed by the case just now. Even though it isn't her fault, Shin'ichi can't help but feel guilt, so she keeps her thoughts to herself and let them sort through their own thoughts.

They are in amusement park, in Tropical Land, just like they had promised. The day had turned out well and beautifully, the sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, it was a perfect day to spend at an amusement park. They had played many games, won many prizes, and eaten several times (mainly because Sonoko wanted to try out the food in here). True to her words, Sonoko really paid for all her expenses, including playing games and eateries. Because of that, Shin'ichi held herself back. She didn't want to get carried away and ended up using all of Sonoko's money. Finally, the sun is setting, and Sonoko declared that it was time to end the day by trying out the new roller coaster she had been wanted to try. The other two girls just followed her whims and they had gotten into the roller coaster.

The queue was very long, since everyone wanted to try the newly built roller coaster. Shin'ichi met a young lady who came with a man and his girlfriend. Ran, being a friendly person she is, happily introduced themselves. Ran even offered the lady a seat beside them, because the lady seemed uncomfortable by the lovey-dovey couple she was with. The lady refused and sat alone in the cart in front of them, with Shin'ichi directly behind her, and the man and his girlfriend sat in the cart behind Shin'ichi's.

Then somehow, the man who sat behind Shin'ichi had gotten his head chopped off while the roller coaster was still moving. Shin'ichi and Ran, who sat directly in front of their cart, felt the warm spray of blood to their backs. The police came quickly to the murder scene. Ran and Sonoko visibly traumatized and tried to hold themselves together while being questioned by the police and Shin'ichi worked to solve the case. The police had suspected the man's girlfriend because she sat right beside the man and there was a bloodied knife found in her bag, and two men in black who had rode the cart directly behind the killed man.

Shin'ichi, wary of the two men dressed in black and pressed by the protective feelings towards her friends, hurriedly solved to case. She doesn't want to them be in murder scene for too long—it's bad for their mental health. She found that the man's girlfriend is innocent, and the killer is the other lady who came with him. It turned out that the other lady was the man's ex-girlfriend. The motive was because the man had broken her heart and dared to invite her along in his date with his current girlfriend. She had killed him without magic and with the complicated trick because she knew that magic residues are easily detected by magic-users.

It is because of these kinds of cases that make Shin'ichi reluctant to get close to other human beings. No one can predict human's heart and she wonders sometimes if she herself would become like that when she cannot take it anymore.

"That was sick, dude." Sonoko finally finds her voice. Her face still pale, but at least now she is saying something. "I can't believe there are people who could do that just because their love was rejected."

Shin'ichi frowns in thought of what Sonoko has said before the heiress calls her, "Hey, Shin'ichi. Is this what you have to solve every damn day?" She asks with pale face. "Because, hey, I don't know how you can take all of the sight."

Shin'ichi shrugs, "If that's what you're worried about, then no. It doesn't bother me anymore."

At her implication, Ran looks up at her with teary eyes. "Anymore? Shin'ichi, you…" Shin'ichi doesn't answer her, but she simply stares forward with thoughtful expression. Ran sniffs and she thinks. Shin'ichi has always been obsessed with Sherlock Holmes and becoming a detective for her whole life. But she hadn't been this closed off to the world before her parents were still around. When her parents were still alive, she was still a cheery person—able to leave her books to play and hang out with her and Sonoko. She was a more talkative and girly person, cheery and able to fangirl about Holmes and her favorite soccer club until she and Sonoko were sick of it.

Shin'ichi had said to her that she is done mourning for her parent's death, that there was nothing changing in her life even if her parents had died; that their death doesn't affect her. But Ran saw the change. Shin'ichi has withdrawn from the world. She started to see her and Sonoko less and less. She started to speak less and observe more. She started locking herself in her library more and more. She started to hold people by arm's length. She doesn't even let Ran in anymore. Shin'ichi started to become a real detective from the day her parents died.

Ran remember exactly when there was news to her parent's death. Ran was cooking for Shin'ichi in the latter's house, because she knows that Shin'ichi is too lazy to cook for herself. Shin'ichi was watching TV in the background. The other girl was in a good mood because her parents were going to come home that week. Ran still remembered how happy she was and how she tried to act nonchalant but failed miserably. And there was a sound of glass shattered. Ran immediately went to Shin'ichi to see what was wrong, but the other girl was frozen in front of the TV. The news casted an accident of a plane crash and that nobody survived the crash—the plane she later learned that Shin'ichi's parents had been riding on.

When Ran accompanied her to her parent's coffins, that's the first time she saw the other girl broke down into a sobbing mess. She had never seen Shin'ichi so distraught and loss that she didn't know what to do, so she just stood aside and watched—she regretted that now.

Not too long after that, Shin'ichi's house was auctioned off by the government; they said because she wasn't old enough to take care of the house. Ran and Sonoko were shocked and horrified when she heard that Shin'ichi was sent into an orphanage outside Beika city. Ran was about to take the girl into her house, no matter what her father said. It took a lot of efforts to go out of town, mainly because they were just 14 year olds then. But when they got to the orphanage, Shin'ichi was gone. She and Sonoko frantically searched for her and asked for help around to look for her. Thankfully, not 24 hours later, Shin'ichi's uncle, Professor Agasa found her. He said she was on her way to the neighbouring kingdom, Caelis, when he found her. He said not to worry anymore because he would be taking care of Shin'ichi from then on and she wouldn't have to live in orphanage again if he could help it. Shin'ichi was asleep on Agasa's shoulders that time, but Ran remembered exactly how her eyebrows were furrowed, even in sleep, and there were bags under her eyes and her face and hands were dirty of salt, possibly from tears.

It took weeks for Ran and Sonoko to get Shin'ichi to talk to them again. Even then, they realized the changes Shin'ichi took. She started to become a real detective. She had withdrawn to a cold and hard shell she had created for herself. The hard blow of losing her parents made her more determined to become a detective than before. She was lucky that Inspector Megure from FOMA was friends with her father's and he agreed to take her in as an apprentice, probably because of pity, but Shin'ichi clearly didn't care. In only three years, her reputation preceded her. She had become the detective like she'd wanted, famous throughout the kingdom, even earning nicknames like Detective of the East and Young Marple. But is she happy?

Ran watches her childhood friend from behind, watching at the small back that has to shoulder so many burdens that they don't understand. Looking at her from behind like this, she seems too far away from her reach. Ran wonders if someday her friend would fade away and disappears just like that and there would be nothing she could do but watch—just like that day when she watched her break and do nothing. And for that, she deserves it. Ran bites her lower lip; she deserves every bit of resentment Shin'ichi may or may not have because of her cowardly behaviour, unfit of a friend.

"Guys, I should go. You should go back without me. The police will escort you home safely." Shin'ichi speaks, breaking the silence and Ran's thought.

Sonoko frowns in concern, "Then what about you?"

"There's something I want to check. Besides, the police will need me for questioning anyway. They still need me here. I'll be fine. They'll escort me home too when they're done." She reassures them before gesturing to a man in uniform. "Officer Takagi will escort you home."

The man bows and gesturing for them to follow him. "Please this way. Don't worry about Kudou-san, she will be perfectly safe."

Ran tries to protest, "But Shin'ichi…"

"I can take care of myself, you know." Shin'ichi cuts her off. "I've been taking care of myself for the last three years. I'll be fine."

Her words do nothing to reassure Ran, it simply makes her feel even worse. But Shin'ichi doesn't linger around to listen to her respond, because she turns swiftly to talk to Inspector Megure. Sonoko pats her hand in clear sympathy before taking her hand to follow Takagi to the police car. Ran will bet that Sonoko probably knows what she thinks.

Ran feels as if she will not be able to see Shin'ichi again until distant future.

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After seeing both her friends safely driven by officer Takagi, Shin'ichi turns to where she last seen the men dressed in black at the crime scene. She asked about them to Inspector Megure. He said that they looked agitated and kept saying they don't know anything, as if they don't want to be involved with the police for too long. Shin'ichi also remembers that the silver haired man had stared at her with such cold and hard eyes that she felt chills down her spines. She knew instantly that those are the eyes of a cold-blooded murderer—the eyes of a person who kills just for the sake of it. That's why she has to know—what could a murderer be doing there, on a roller coaster no less? What is it that he wants?

The amusement park is almost on closing time; especially with a murder going on, it looks like the park is going to close earlier than she anticipated. She has to hurry and look for those men before the park closes. She has to prevent whatever they're going to do.

She thinks again. What could the men possibly want when they were on roller coaster? Murderers like them couldn't be riding on a roller coaster casually without some sort of purpose. Then she remembers that the roller coaster is on the edge of the park, looking out to an abandoned empty field just beside the park. _They must be on a look out_ , she suddenly concludes as her feet runs toward the place where she thinks they were. _They must have an agreement to meet at the empty field with someone, and they were riding the roller coaster to inspect if that place was empty or if the one agreed to meet with them came as they promised_.

Her feet came into halt as the empty field comes into view. In here, she has to be stealthy. _The men in black weren't just ordinary men_ , she thinks. _If my feelings were right_ , she breathes in and out to even out her breath _. If my feelings were right, then those people are dangerous_.

She hid behind a big lamppost when she heard distinct voices of conversation. She controls her breath as she peeks to the source of the conversation. There are two men, by the thick bushes. If nobody searches carefully, they can easily go undetected. They are talking in hush voices Shin'ichi can't make out of.

One man wears the all black, the one who accompanied the silver-haired man in roller coaster, she realizes. The other is someone she has never seen before. He is bald, wearing a grey suit, and carrying a suitcase. "You sure the artefact has been sent to my company yet?"

The man in black answers sinisterly, "Yes, you don't have to worry—unless the amount of money you give is not enough."

The bald man visibly gulps before opening the suitcase in front of him, "Here," revealing a huge amount of cash, neatly rowed inside. "I've hold my end of the deal." Seeing the unusual amount of cash and the question the bald man asked, Shin'ichi instantly concludes that this is an illegal transaction of magical artefact.

The man in black inspects the cash for a moment before nodding and takes to suitcase in his hand. "We'll see about that after we count the money." At this point, Shin'ichi is already has her cell phone out on recording mode. "After all, the artefact is extremely rare. It took a lot of efforts and many strings pulled to collect Hand of Midas." Shin'ichi's eyes widen. Hand of Midas is a very rare and very dangerous artefact. If not handled carefully, anyone who touched it could turn into gold. The myth has it that only two of them were ever made. "I say, 780,000,000 kan isn't supposed to cut it—not with what we've been through to get it and what the artefact could do, but what could I say. It seems the boss is fond of you after all."

The bald man scoffs, "Humph, after all I've done to supply her with whole bunch of artefacts, you don't have the right to say that to me. I've been getting a lot of warnings from the FOMA lately; they've suspected me already because of the last time's incident."

The man in black smirks, "Don't worry about FOMA; we've got it all covered." Shin'ichi's eyes widen some more. Those last words seem to imply that they have inner connections inside FOMA.

"The detective game is over, girl."

Shin'ichi is a few a seconds too late to realize that there's someone behind her when a sharp pain explodes to the back of her head and everything goes blurry and painful. Her ears are ringing and everything is a blur to the haze of pain.

"Aniki! What's going on?"

"This silly girl has been spying on us."

"What should we do? Should we kill her here?"

"That would be best. Put down your gun, Vodka. We can't risk using guns—there are still too much police loitering around here. It'll be troublesome if they hear us."

"Then what should we do?"

"The killing curse."

The sinister words enter Shin'ichi's ears through the blurry haze. _Killing?_ "It has just invented. It would kill the manna and life string of the person it curses bit by bit—like crushing their bones and flesh. From the outside, there would seem no damage to the physical body. And the best part is there would be trace of magic residue. Even the most experienced wizard would not be able to sense the curse within the person."

Suddenly Shin'ichi feels as if her whole body was crushed by an invisible weight. She gasps on air, desperately trying to get oxygen into her lungs. "This one is tougher to kill." She hears the man mutters before more weight is inflicted on her.

Shin'ichi desperately clung to her life string, whimpering and groaning in pain. She rolls over in order to escape the invisible weight and she sees the blurry images of the men in black through her tear-soaked eyes. Suddenly she feels hot, searing pain on her heart. It's smouldering hot—as if there was a burning stake stabbed through her heart. She doubles over as her heart stutters and screams in pain before she feels her heart stops completely.

The silver haired man stares at the collapsed girl in front of him. After checking for a pulse and finds none, the silver haired man in black grinned wickedly. The eyes of a murdered girl are always the best. Her eyes are blue, he notes. Now, her eyes hold nothing but the screams of pain as they're dulling and became bloodshot, like eyes of dead fish. Then his eyes strayed on the cell phone she has dropped on the grass. Ah, that's right. He just remembers that this silly girl had eavesdropped and recorded their whole conversation. Gin raises his foot and crushed the cell phone under his shoes. Gin nods in satisfaction when the phone has been nothing but shattered glass. Now that she's dead, now that the phone's broken, nobody would hear any of this. Their secrets are safe, their boss is safe.

"She's dead, aniki?"

"Yes." He straightens himself and pats his black coat to smooth them. "Let's go, Vodka."

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To be continued

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Author's note:

Hello, this is Morte-tan, back with a fantasy-mystery-romance story. Again, this is going to be a female Shin'ichi kind of story, and off course the pairing will be Kaishin. And as you can see, there is no Kaito yet. Yes, off course. This is like reading the beginning of Detective Conan volume one all over again. Please don't be disheartened, and please be patient. Kaito will come out officially in chapter two or three. I would probably do slow updates with this story, but I will work as hard as I can.

The idea for this story stems first from Swan Lake, then it goes to Harry Potter, then it goes to games called Emerald City Confidential (it is where I got the inspiration for the kingdom and its governance) and otome game called Wizardess' Heart (where I got inspiration for the magic school). Then there are Black Butler (where I got the reference for the hierarchy between nobles) and Howl's Moving Castle (where I got the inspiration for the magic and spell casting stuff). And off course, last but not least, I should give credits for **SilvCyanide** for taking his/her idea for calling magic powers "manna" in her story titled " _Study in Magic_ " (I don't want to be called plagiarism for this story). That story is very good, try to read them while you can.

Please give me feedback if the story seems unclear, or if my writing style is too rushed, or anything at all. Please be the judge, and tell me what's wrong in this story and what could be fixed. I will respond to any reviews and messages in time. I'm sorry for any type of mistakes in this story that offends you in any way; I assure you, that it is not intentional; and I hope that you can love this story as much as I do.

Thank you for reading. Click the review button if you want to comment on how horrible I did in this story, or click favorite or follow button, I will deeply appreciate it. Thank you again, and I will see you in the next chapter. :D


	2. Chapter 1

**CRESCENT MOON**

Disclaimer: Detective Conan is not mine. Harry Potter is also not mine.

Warning: Female Shin'ichi. Kaishin eventual romantic relationship. Very slow-developing plot and romance. Magical Universe. Victorian era hierarchy. Perhaps a very OOC Shin'ichi and Sonoko, please be the judge. Ran-Shin'ichi-Sonoko siblings relationship. Agasa actually has blood-relation with Shin'ichi. Typos and grammar errors everywhere, please be the judge. Vague story format. Kaito is not here yet.

Note: I've made some changes and edits to the prologue. It's not crucial, but you might want to know; like I've made Shin'ichi stayed in an orphanage before and the fact that Gin destroyed the recorded evidence that Shin'ichi took.

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"The culprit is you!" the so called detective Mouri Kogoro falsely accuses with such bravado that it's embarrassing.

The woman accused just gapes openly with disbelief and confused expression, "What? What makes you reach that conclusion?"

"You must have poisoned the coffee as you made it. As the waitress of this coffee shop, you're the only one who can do it. You put the cyanide when the victim asked for another order. After poisoning the coffee, you replaced them with Jessica's and dumped the cyanide coffee in the staff toilet. That's why the murder weapon is not found! As a waitress, you are the only one with perfect opportunity to do it." It's true that his reasoning is correct, but there are a few holes in his theory.

"You're an idiot," the falsely accused woman puts her hands on her hips. "I don't even know the girl—I just met her today. I don't have any motive to murder her." Strike one. "Besides, I'm just a waitress—where do you suppose I get cyanide around here? That thing is not so easy to acquire for normal people." Strike two. "Not to mention there were only two chances for me to put poison to her cup, and in front of the victim herself no less. Don't you think the rest of them would've noticed?" Strike three—and he's out.

"Well, that's…" Apparently the old man hasn't thought about that before randomly accusing people. Conan sighs in exasperation as she feels that can't keep watching anymore and casts a simple sleeping spell secretly.

Kogoro makes a strange sound between moaning and groaning as he slowly slumps on to a chair Conan had prepared before. She immediately sticks a speaker under his tie and hides under the table. "Oh, he's into it again—the sleeping Kogoro." Takagi exclaims.

Inspector Megure just eyes him in a very bored and exasperated manner. Conan, who hides under the table use her magic to turn her voice to Kogoro's and speaks through a microphone that connects to the speaker on Kogoro's tie. "Yes, I apologize for the false accuse. I did it on purpose to make sure the real culprit knows where she went wrong on her tricks."

The three culprits; a man named Kenji—the victim's fiancée, the waitress called Asami who handled their coffees, and the victim's best friend, Jessica; are all sweating as she dramatically prepares to announce on who the culprit is.

Conan, together with Ran, was tagging along with Kogoro for a snack after a successful solving of a case and the client paid tremendously for it. Kogoro wanted to waste their reward money a bit (under Ran's supervision, off course) and let Ran and Conan ordered whatever they want. Not wanting to waste this rare opportunity, Ran and Conan decided to binge eating for this once. When they were on their second serving of shrimp pasta with lemon pie and lava cake for dessert, suddenly a person collapsed near their table. Conan immediately rose from her seat and felt the victim's neck for a pulse, but finding none. Kogoro immediately told Ran to call for the police.

The case was rather simple. Three people, Kenji, Jessica, and the victim, Mina, are reunited in this coffee shop to celebrate Mina's wedding to Kenji. It was Mina's idea and they promised to meet here. Jessica came first after shopping. She had just got back from another kingdom and immediately brought things for Mina's presents. She used her bags to mark the chairs that they were used before going to order the coffees. The coffees were off course requested by both Mina and Kenji via cellphone. When the waitress, Asami, delivered the coffee, that's when Kenji came. Kenji sat on one of the chairs Jessica had marked for him and waited for Mina. Mina herself came approximately 15 minutes after both had a taste of their own coffees. Mina took a sip of her own coffee first, but nothing happened even after half of it was gone. Fifteen minutes later, Mina called Asami back to order a side dish. When Asami bent down to took Kenji's empty cup to refill it with new coffee as per his request, that's when Mina coughed blood, collapsed, and instantly died. From the scent of almond from her lips, it was clear that she was poisoned with cyanide.

"The one who poisoned Miss Mina is," Conan uses levitating spell to lift Kogoro's hand to point at a woman, "Miss Jessica, you're the only one who can." The woman's face seems to pale a bit, but she keeps a calm façade and not saying anything.

Kenji, Mina's fiancé, stares at her in disbelief, before defending her, "That can't be! Jessica was right in front of us all the time! She won't have time to do it!"

"Yes, she can, if she disguises the cyanide as sugar, she'll have plenty of time to do it." Kogoro argues.

Kenji pales, "What do you mean?"

"Remember, what Jessica had come here with? Shopping bags. She used a psychology trick to secretly arrange where the two of you would sit, even if it doesn't seem so. By saying that the shopping bag to her left contented Mina's presents, you would subconsciously sat in front of her, right where she wanted you to. And then Mina would have no choice but to sit to her left, just like Jessica wanted."

"But Mina was okay when she drank that coffee the first time!" Kenji still argues.

"That's right—because at that time, the poison wasn't there yet." Kogoro answers.

This time it was Megure who asks, "What do you mean by that, Mouri?"

"Mina simply wasn't poisoned at that time. She was poisoned when Asami came and wrote her orders." He says. "Simply, the chronology was like this: after setting the chairs, Mina sat by Jessica's side and drunk her un-poisoned coffee. During the lapse of fifteen minutes time, Jessica possibly added sugar to her coffee, which had been mixed with cyanide before probably saying that she's hungry. According to your description of Mina, she's a kind and sweet girl. She would volunteer to order a side dish by calling Asami. When everyone's attention was focused on Asami and the menu, Jessica swapped her own poisoned cup with Mina's."

Kenji tries to defend her again, "But Asami also said it, right? No normal people could acquire cyanide easily."

"Where does Jessica live now, Kenji-san?" Kogoro merely asks.

"In—in Caelis Kingdom, but what does that have to do with it?"

"And what is she doing there?" Kogoro asks again.

"Well, she said she's studying medical—" He answers before something visibly clicked in his mind.

"That's right. Jessica studies medical. She must have a lot of acquaintances whose job is a doctor in Caelis. It's easy for her to acquire cyanide if she told them that she would use it for some sort of research, especially if she's still studying."

Kenji shakes his head so hard that Conan believes his head is going to fall off, "Don't just ramble! Where's the proof?! There's no proof that Jessica did it!"

"The proof was off course on the cup and the sugar container." Kogoro says. Inspector Megure and Takagi went to the murder scene and checking all the cups. "If it wasn't cleaned before, there should be some of Jessica's fingerprints on both the cups. It's impossible to clean all of the fingerprints on such a short time. The sugar container would also contain cyanide if the forensic team would examine them."

At that, Megure barks an order to the forensic team, "Hey, examine these."

The chief of forensic team moves forward before reading off his notes, "We have, sir. And it's like Sir Kogoro had said. We found cyanide in the sugar container. Also, on the poisoned cup, we found traces of Jessica's fingerprints."

Megure nods before turning to said woman, "That should be enough to apprehend you as the culprit, Jessica-san."

Kenji now has gone so pale, his face nearly as white as paper. Then he turns to Jessica, "hey, Jessica. Say something! It's not you who did it, right? You can't be killing your own childhood friend, can you?" He's becoming more frantic by the second.

Jessica only averts her eyes from him as she answers, "If I say that, I would be lying, Kenji."

At that answer, Kenji goes paler if possible. He trembles and goes on hysteria, "Wh—what are you saying? Why? Why are you doing this?"

"The motive is probably you, Kenji-san." Kogoro starts.

Kenji turns to him, "what?"

"Perhaps she feels jealous of Mina, for marrying you, as Jessica has been in love with you for years. But you never seem to notice and instead fell in love with Mina." Kogoro explains.

Kenji turns to Jessica, "Is—is that true?"

Jessica seems conflicted before she suddenly snaps. "Yes! Yes, that's right! I'm the one who killed Mina because I've been in love with you since our school years!" Kenji gasps at the violent confession. "It's true that Mina is my childhood friend, and I love her like a sister. You must have known her like the angel she was—but that's all a lie! She was nothing like an angel—if nothing else, she is a succubus! Do you know how many my ex-boyfriends have been snatched by that snake?!" Jessica finally snaps. "She has always been eyeing the boys I fancy with and dated them before I could. The same happened with you! I fell in love with you and got close with you for a while, without telling her, because I know she would seduce you out from me. But I barely finished my college and you married her! That little devil knew I was in love with you! And even now she was inviting me to reunion to celebrate her marriage to you, to purposely rub salt into my wound! She wanted to mock me! To tell me that I cannot marry anyone without her ruining my life!

"That's why I killed her. I have enough of that vixen in my life. Acting all innocent and angelic when behind me she snatched all the boys I've loved." Jessica is now looks nothing like an innocent woman she was. Her eyes are fiery angry and she looks every bit of a murderer she is. She turns to Kenji. "I was thinking of killing you first, Kenji. After all, you're the one who was seduced by her cunning mind and even agreed to marry her when you promised me that we can try dating. I hated you, you know. All these plans were supposed to get to you. But I realized that killing you won't solve my problem if the vixen was still alive. So I changed my target. I remembered how much I've loved you when you started defending me, even if I'm the one who do it. I kind of regret for thinking about killing you. But I don't regret killing Mina, if that's what you're thinking. I don't care if I have to spend the rest of my life in prison—I am free of that bitch!"

She cackles in glee even after she is handcuffed and escorted to the police car.

The sleeping spell loses its effect as the sleeping Kogoro slowly gains back his consciousness. "That's an amazing analysis show like always, Mouri-kun!" Inspector Megure materializes suddenly out of nowhere behind the sleeping detective and pats Kogoro so hard on the back that the detective doesn't have any choice but to forcefully back to the world of the living.

Kogoro, being a self-centred person he is, just laughs nervously while agreeing proudly to what the inspector had said, even though he doesn't remember any of what he's done before going to sleep. "Off course, Inspector. I am the infamous Sleeping Kogoro, after all." He cackles loudly and proudly even though he doesn't know anything. Meanwhile, Conan, who just comes out from under the table, wipes the sweat off her forehead tiredly.

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They are able to go home after the sun already sets. Conan sits on the back of the rented car, like usual, while Ran sat on the passenger seat with her father driving.

"I can't believe that woman is crazy enough to really kill her friend." Ran mutters, rather sadly. She still thinks that their problems could be solved if only they would talk.

Kogoro scoffs hearing the innocent comment of his daughter, "Don't be too naïve, Ran. You can't judge people from their front. Even your missing detective friend must have secrets she doesn't want to tell you, and that's why she went missing." Kogoro starts. Ran glares at him but he continues, "I bet she ran away because she terribly misses her family and want to meet them sooner."

"Dad!" Ran angrily snaps, "It's true that I don't know what she was thinking or why she was missing or where she is now, but I won't let you talk trash about my friend!" Ran threatens her dad, and Kogoro obediently shuts his mouth, muttering things about scary daughters or along that lines. Ran sighs and leans back to her seat, "All I know was that she was on an apparently very big and dangerous case that requires her to hide her identity for a while, and that's why she cannot be seen with me or even talking to me at all. But she promised that she would be back—and she's _fine_ , dad! _She's not dead_! Don't ever imply that she is or I will never forgive you." Ran threatens her dad again, and this time Kogoro has the tendency to look guilty.

Ran takes deep breaths to calm herself. "Well, at least we're not full and we don't have to pay for dinner, right?" She glances to the rear-view mirror to the reflection of the little girl she is taking care of. "Don't you think so, Conan-chan?"

The little pig-tailed girl grins widely and innocently at her through the rear-view mirror, "Yeah! I'm really full! The lemon pie was really delicious!"

Ran laughs along with her, "Don't you think so? I think the chocolate lava cake was excellent." She says as she muses to herself; her charge, little Conan is really cute. Being with her really calms her down and keeps her happy and busy enough to ignore the fact Shin'ichi is missing and is implied dead by the media. Ran keeps talking about how delicious their dinner was until their rented car reaches their apartment blocks.

Kogoro stops the car in front their front door to let his passengers down. "You two don't have to wait for me. I'll be taking this car back. Please prepare hot water for me to bathe." He asks Ran before he stares at the smaller girl by Ran's side, the little girl they've been taking care of for the past weeks. "And you, brat, behave!"

"Yeeeees," The little girl sings without any care to the world. Kogoro deems that good enough before he speeds off, leaving them at the front door of their apartment.

Ran sighs exasperatedly at the car that slowly speeds away from their view before she takes Conan's hand and leads her inside. "Let's get you prepared for the night, and then I'll tuck you in. Okay, Conan-chan?" She coos to the little girl.

Conan whines childishly and pouts cutely, "I don't need to be tucked in, Ran nee-chan. I am a big girl now!"

Ran giggles amusedly and agrees while as she helps Conan change into her pyjamas. "Yes, yes, off course, Conan-chan. You're a big and smart girl." It's true, though. Even though she is only physically five years old, Conan is in the first-grade elementary school of MTA now. And as far as the teachers told her, Conan's score percentage in practical magic skill and other theoretical subjects has never been lower than 90%—almost perfect. The teachers even told her that her magical skills and mental IQ is could be in par with high school students. Off course, Ran is delighted when she was told that her little charge is a genius.

Conan came here the night before Shin'ichi went missing. When Ran searched for Shin'ichi in professor Agasa's house, she instead found this little girl, her black hair still wet from the rain, her head wounded and covered with bandages, her cheeks still red from the cold, and wearing clothes that were too big on her. Ran thought she looked familiar, but she couldn't be too sure. When she took one look at the big, innocent, blue eyes wrapped with a frame of glasses that's also too big for her face, Ran instantly felt the motherly instinct to protect her from the evil around the world. Professor Agasa said that Shin'ichi was fine and just still wrapping up the case and that Ran should take the little girl home, because Agasa would be busy and has to travel around kingdoms for a while to present his inventions to the investors, whom he got his salary from.

Her father initially doesn't approve for the addition—claiming that she would become a burden to the household expense. Ran had threatened her father with a punch to the nearest wall and that's the end of the debate. It was supposed to be just a month until Agasa was back to town. But it appears that the investors had agreed with his presentation and had funded him with enough money to make more products. So as the result, professor Agasa couldn't go back home yet. He offered to take Conan back with him to live in Caelis, where he would be staying for a while. But Ran refused—she had become attached to the little girl and has consider her as her own sister, or maybe a replacement for Shin'ichi—and volunteered to take care of her until Professor Agasa's contract with the investors has expired. It has been almost a year since then. Ever since Conan lives there, Ran noticed that her father's business has become better and they have better income now. Ran believed that Conan is a fortunate sign from heaven and is quite content taking care of Conan like she would her own child.

She then ushers the small girl to the bathroom to clean herself up before bed. After that, Ran tucks the little girl in to her own room before doing some of her chores, because living without her mother is hard enough, and now she has a little girl she has to take care of—not because she feels obligated but because she has consider the child as her little sister. Conan has made her feel like she is now a mother (the huge age gap between her and Conan and also her father's unruly behaviour doesn't help) and to be honest, that feeling is not too bad once she got used to it. She prepares her father's hot water, cleans the kitchen and the office downstairs, locks the office door, and turning off all the lights. She makes sure Conan is asleep before going to her own room to sleep.

Ran doesn't know that when she's asleep, a pair of smaller feet pads over to her room. Conan, the little girl who has been freeloading on Mouri household for the past six months, tiptoes to Ran's room to peek and make sure if the other girl is asleep; because she knows better than anyone that Ran sleeps like the dead. She peeks into the room and hears the soft snoring that Ran only makes when asleep. Assures that she's asleep, Conan tiptoes back out without sounds.

The little girl then silently makes her way back to her own room, that Ran had insisted her father to prepare it. It is just a small 3×3 room, used to be a store-room to keep case journals that ended up collecting dust because the incompetent detective had never bothered to open it before Ran insisted he cleaned those up and redecorated it into Conan's room. She closes the door, unties her ribbon choker from her neck and opens the curtain. Instantly the moon light pours from the sky through the glass window and into the room, right on to her small form.

Conan closes her eyes as she feels a calming warmth envelopes her entire being; as if being embraced by her mother and father. When she opens her eyes, she has grown into 165 centimetres high and 11 years older; along with the face she used to see in the mirror all the time before the entire incident with the men in black.

That's right; Conan is actually the missing detective Kudo Shin'ichi who has been appearing on all media. Conan is only a pseudonym she used in a hurry because she hadn't been able to think of any other names and she is stuck with such ridiculous boy name until the curse could be lifted.

 _This is all uncle's fault_ , she muses with a pout as she flexes her long fingers to get used to the feeling. She sighs as she sits on the floor just like that, under the moon. _How long am I going to get stuck being a five year old?_ She wonders as she looks up to the moon through the window.

Shin'ichi was lucky. After she was supposedly killed by the killing curse casted by the men in black, she woke up as a five year old instead. She had mourned for the loss of her phone for a while and was relieved when she found her SD-card still alive amongst the rubbles of shattered glass and titanium. She might lose the evidence against the men in black, but the SD-card contains the pictures of her family—it was precious to her.

She was found by the local security guards already small and with a wound on her head. The security guard sent her to the nearest police station. At this point, she learnt that telling a story of an adult Kudo Shin'ichi turning into five years old by a killing curse that was casted by a criminal syndicate wouldn't convince anyone. She also knew the fate of a five year old without parents who was wandering alone in the night—they would be sent to the nearest orphanage. Shin'ichi has had tastes of that place before and she has no intention to tasting it again. So she ran away at the first chance she got even though she got chased by police dogs. She has always hated dogs.

The dogs stopped chasing her when the rain poured down and washed all other scent but the rain itself. Little Shin'ichi used this opportunity to ride a train back to Professor Agasa's house. Off course, it took a little effort to convince professor Agasa that she is Shin'ichi, but he believed her in the end (Shin'ichi had to show off her deducing skills to convince him but the reaction she got was priceless). He ushered her in, take her into a warm bath, and gave her the clothes she used to wear when she was a child. Shin'ichi was rather surprised on how much she had shrunk when the clothes felt a bit too loose on her.

As the professor bandaged the wound on her head, she recounted the whole story about the case in amusement park, the encounter with the men in black, her witnessing the illegal transaction of magical artefacts, got busted and almost got killed with a killing curse, but got shrunken instead. She told him her deduction that they were a criminal syndicate and professor panicked. He told her hide her identities because they believed they had killed Kudo Shin'ichi. If the words got out that Shin'ichi was still alive, they would hunt her down and the people around her—they would kill the people around her in order to get to her before killing her down. Hearing that, Shin'ichi paled with a feeling that was similar to an ice block down her stomach. Urgently, professor casted a cloaking spell on a red silk ribbon and told small Shin'ichi to wear it as a choker or something. He said it would cloak and disguise her manna from leaking and being recognized by people close to her.

Their discussion got heated when Ran suddenly came without invitation. She had been looking for Shin'ichi, worried that something might happen to her because she'd been having a bad feeling for a while. She had been calling Shin'ichi's phone but it didn't connect, that was why she came there. Professor lied to her, saying that Shin'ichi is still out in police station, giving out statements and wrapping up the cases. Ran accepted that lie and gave her attention to Shin'ichi who was now in a little girl form. Ran got excited and hugged her, calling her cute and asked Agasa who she was. He lied that the little girl was his nephew, a daughter of his distant cousin. Ran, not knowing the history of Agasa or Shin'ichi's family tree, accepted the lie easily and asked for her name. Shin'ichi, now in panic for not thinking of a pseudonym beforehand, frantically looked around for sudden inspiration and she caught her eyes on her mystery books, written by Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe. She just blurted out what she had in mind, which is Edogawa Conan, which is not cute and not suited her cute appearance at all. Even now, she is still a bit miffed for not saying Agatha Christie's name, or Irene Adler. At least those are girl's names. Thankfully, because Conan is a foreign name to Ran's ears and tongue, she accepted the lie.

Professor suddenly got creative and he thrust the now Conan into Ran's arms, asking her if she didn't mind taking care of Conan for him, because he had to go to Caelis kingdom to present his inventions to the investors. Ran, not knowing about the lies, easily agreed. Conan first didn't understand what he had in mind, but then Agasa explained to him that Ran's father is a detective, and she could use him to get information about the men in black. Conan initially complained because Kogoro is an incompetent buffoon. But then Agasa encouraged her to take him to fame, to solve the cases for him, so that cases came to him along with the information on the men in black. Hearing that, Conan brightened up and she immediately went to Ran's side and easily accepted as an addition to Mouri family, despite Kogoro's initial disagreement.

She was then enrolled to the local elementary school MTA in Beika by Agasa, because it would be suspicious if a five year old doesn't go to school. Because of her young age and ridiculous name, she was first bullied by the younger children. But then, she gained three troublesome friends; Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta. She befriended them when Ayumi invited her to go ghost hunting together with Genta, the boy who fancies her. Then Mitsuhiko, the smartest and most logical boy of the group, denied the existence of ghosts and Genta threatened him to go with them to prove if ghosts really don't exist. Conan, who can't refuse Ayumi's pitiful and teary face, begrudgingly humoured them.

In the end, there were no ghosts, and Conan only found traces of a cold case from six years ago. With her analysis, she was successful in protecting her friends and convinced the suspects to surrender themselves to the police. Off course, they were scolded like crazy in the morning by their respective guardians. But in the end, Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko ended up stuck by Conan's side like a limpet. Even though Conan was annoyed, she couldn't bring herself to push them away. She worried if they would get themselves in tricky situations again. The children were too curious for their own good.

After a while, Conan then realized that Agasa's lies would not be able to hold for long. After a month, Ran contacted Agasa again, asking if he was back in town yet. Her uncle decided to be creative again and came up with a believable lie. He said that the presentation was over, but he couldn't come back yet, because he had formed a contract with the investors to work for them. He had to stay in Caelis for a few more months as per the contract. To make it more believable, he even offered to Ran if she minded taking care of Conan and if he needed to take her back to live with him in Caelis. Fortunately, Ran refused, stating that she had grown attached to the little girl and she wanted to make amends to herself for not doing anything when Shin'ichi broke down in front of her parent's coffin. At that point, Conan had stopped listening out of guilt.

After few trial and errors, professor Agasa finally supplied Conan with useful gadgets in order to help her solve cases in Kogoro's place. The first and foremost is the ribbon charm, casted with cloaking spell to disguise her manna and keep them from leaking out too much and prevent people from recognizing her manna.

Most people could sense manna nowadays, and it wouldn't do if someone close to her (i.e. Ran and Sonoko) recognizes Shin'ichi's manna while she was still in her child form. Manna is like fingerprints; they are unique and vary amongst individuals. Every individual possess their own feel, power, and intensity to their manna, making them difficult to disguise. But manna could be cloaked by a cloaking spell. This spell cannot make manna disappear completely, but it can cloak and limit its presence, so that the manna would feel duller than usual. That is enough for the manna to feel different that it could be mistaken as someone else's. Off course, the cloaking spell would not last forever. It needs to be regenerated at least once a month for the charm to keep working. If not, the charm could stop working and it would need a while to re-cast the spell all over again.

The second and the third are a small speaker shaped like a sticker that can be stuck anywhere and a microphone connected to said speaker that shaped like a pair of red earring. These are what she mainly used for analysis show. As a child, no one would listen or believe her when she makes observations, so she needs someone to act for her. Kogoro or Sonoko were the ones she usually uses when she began her analysis show. She can adjust her voice to be like someone else's with a simple voice-changing spell, and put people to sleep with a simple sleeping spell that usually only last an hour.

After a fatal face off with a kidnapper, Professor decided to arm Conan with a pair of power-enhancing shoes. These shoes use electricity and magnetic fields to allow Conan to kick objects with tremendous power and enable her to defend herself. Other than for kicking stuff, Conan can do mild combat and acrobatic moves that involves her feet with these shoes. So if she kicked somebody's crotch while the power is on medium, that person would need ambulance immediately.

For that reason also, Professor gave her an elastic suspender that could be used to lift heavy things that children don't have strength to do. By pressing a button on the suspenders, Conan can use them to lift heavy objects via a pulley type system. It also could be used to tie up a criminal within short time.

Conan disguised herself with a pair of glasses that's too big to her face. Ran is her childhood friend. She worries that if she continued to expose her naked face to her, Ran would realise that she is Shin'ichi. So wore her father's glasses. It's surprising of how much difference could be made to a person's face just by adding a pair of glasses around their eyes. She remembered how much she whined to her mother when she was little that she would never use glasses like her father. It's rather ironic of how much she doesn't want to be separated with those glasses now. Ran had asked her innocently why she didn't let go of her glasses when she's sleeping and Conan had stuttered a lame answer that her eyes are minus terribly low.

Professor then made some adjustment to her father's glasses and turned it into tracking glasses that could track people like radar, as long as they have the transmitter, within 20 km radius. The transmitter is in the shape of a round sticker that could be stuck everywhere.

Within these cool things, her favourite is the Turbo-engine skateboard. Out front, it looked like a normal skateboard, but with a press of a button, the engine will activate and the speed could reach 267 km per hour, enough to outrun a train. Professor Agasa created it for her to chase and catch criminals. The turbo is powered by solar power so it's environmentally friendly, but that also means it cannot be used at night-time. Shin'ichi had asked Agasa to upgrade them to batteries so she can use them at night, but Agasa said that batteries would not be able to provide the energy it needs because to activate the turbo engine needs a lot of energy. So she's stuck with solar powered turbo engine. Not that she minds.

With the help of these gadgets, she is able to secretly assist Kogoro in solving cases. As the result, Kogoro's name become famous, and he's known as Sleeping Kogoro—because he somehow looks cooler when asleep than when awake. He always makes strange moaning sleepy sounds and he would sway back and forward like dancing before suddenly dropped asleep when she casts her sleeping spell on him. That's why he is known around the kingdom as Sleeping Kogoro.

But even so, with Kogoro's fame and reputation sky-rocketing, there's still not information about the men in black. It's been over nine months since she has become Conan. Maybe it's still too early to wish for it? Shin'ichi sighs as she leans her now adult body to the wall. At that moment, the moonbeam fades. Shin'ichi looks up to see the clouds covering the moon. She winces as she felt the coldness that's familiar as she shrinks back into five years old. Shin'ichi, or Conan now, stares at her now small hands, fingers, and chubby feet. She frowns and huffs, _so annoying_.

One more thing; Conan found out that she can turn into her normal age again, became Shin'ichi again, when she is exposed to the moonbeam. Which means, she can only be herself at night, when the moon is out. Other than that, she won't be able to turn back.

Conan sighs and mutters to herself, "Being able to turn back only at night. Sounds a lot like that ballet story, Swan Lake." She huffs and frowns in annoyance, "So cliché it should be a crime."

Suddenly there was a ring of a cell phone. Conan plucks up both her phones. Yes, she has two cell phones now; one is cell phone with Shin'ichi's number and the other is Conan's. Why does she have to have two cell phones? To prevent the people who have Shin'ichi's number calling Conan's phone. Wouldn't it be suspicious if Ran called Shin'ichi and the one that rang was Conan's phone?

Conan realise that the one's ringing is Shin'ichi's number, and the monitor displayed a familiar name. Shin'ichi sighs in exasperation before tapping the answer button. "What is it, Hattori?"

" _Kudo! We have another case_!"

Conan sighs, "I hope it's not as ridiculous as the last time with the Holmes' convention."

" _No, no, I promise! It's about a thief_." Hattori answers.

Conan rolls her eyes even though she knew Hattori couldn't see it. "I have no interest in thieves," she states.

" _Trust me, Kudo. This thief is different than others_." Hattori adds. " _I'll send to you the note he sent. It's like a code. I want to know your opinion before I give statements to the police_." Without waiting for Conan's answer, he hangs up. Conan stares at her cell phone before clicking her tongue in irritation.

Hattori always does whatever he wants, whenever he wants; a common trait for the heir of Royal House. (She should know; she's been friends with Sonoko for years) Hattori is a high school detective too, like her. He was born into the Royal House of Phoenix and he has bucketful of manna. That was how he was able to discern that Conan and Shin'ichi is the same person. Well, that, and her own clumsiness.

Hattori is a competitive person. He always comes uninvited to Kogoro's office to declare analysis duel with Shin'ichi. Until now, she doesn't know how he got information that Shin'ichi is living in Kogoro's office. In their first analysis duel, Shin'ichi was able to win it when she accidentally stepped under the full moon. She won Hattori's respect and also his curiosity when Shin'ichi suddenly disappeared and Conan appeared on her stead. Their second duel was when Hattori invited Kogoro and his family to a Holmes Convention. The case got out of hand and Conan has no choice but to cast the sleeping spell unto Hattori and used him for analysis show. Unfortunately, even though the culprit was caught, Hattori's tremendous manna enabled him to wake up prematurely from the simple spell and he was able to witness the moment where Conan uses her capabilities to apprehend the culprit; effectively solving the mystery of Conan and Shin'ichi.

Since then, Conan has no choice but to trust Hattori. The latter has self-declared that he is Shin'ichi's best friend and demands that she told him the truth of everything from then on. So, yes, indeed; doing whatever they want whenever they want is a common trait for every heir of Royal Houses.

When her phone rings again, it's Conan's phone receiving email.

 **Sender: Hattori Heiji**

 **Subject: Heist Note**

 **April fool,**

 **When the moon splits in half, I will come to visit the origin of the name of the jet black star at the calling of the waves.**

 **Kaitou Kid.**

Shin'ichi's eyebrows furrow at the intriguing note before smiling in glee. Finally, something to stimulate her brain after endless, boring, elementary school stuff! Her Shin'ichi phone rings. She answers it absentmindedly without looking away from the display of her Conan phone, still staring at the note on her phone that Hattori sent her.

Hattori's voice floats through the receiver and into her ear, " _What do you think? Interested_?" Even from here, Shin'ichi could hear the smirk in his voice, but she doesn't really care.

Shin'ichi's smile widens. "Count me in!"

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To be continued.

Author's Note:

I hope this format works for you guys. I don't know, they might be a bit tiring to be read. But if you made it here without skipping anything, congratulations. Have a virtual cookie.

As you can see, I've made some changes. I feel like Shin'ichi's humble demeanor and somberness in previous chapter need to be explained, so I made her stay at an orphanage for two days. Not too long, but it could be traumatizing for a young child who is used to be coddled. And also, I almost forgot about the her phone. Shin'ichi's cell phone wallpaper is of her parents, so it's very dear to her. She was relieved because the SD card that contained her family's pictures survived. I also made her don't like dogs. Should I have done that, or shouldn't I? Please tell me.

She doesn't need a lot of gadgets like in the canonical story, because most of it she can make do with magic. Remember, this is a magical world. The reference of modern magical world I got from Final Fantasy XV. Those are some cool stuff, right there! The case from the beginning is inspired from the real murder that took place in my capital city; a cyanide-filled coffee to kill their own friend out of jealousy. I have them edited off course.

For **Guest** : Thank you for reviewing. I was smiling when I see yours. The story has been updated. I hope you are satisfied with this long-ass story and not just "TL-DR".

Ah, yes. I've wanting to ask you, readers. Do you have some sort of headcanon on how female Shin'ichi and female Conan would look like? Please answer in the review box. Describe her appearance or you can give me the url if you have your own fanart or someone else's that matched yours.

My female Shin'ichi headcanon would look a lot like Yukiko, except rounder face, long black hair, and wavy instead of spiral hair. Off course, she would have the signature cowlick above her head. She would be a lot more tomboyish than Ran (wearing clothes like Sera). My female Conan would be exactly like canonical one, except with more feminine clothes and a pair of pigtails on her head. Maybe I should have described this in the story, but this chapter had reached 12 word pages, and I feel I should stop writing before I have to divide them into two parts.

Thank you, readers, for reading my story so far. I will have some days off this week, so I will probably update next month or so after my schedule is fixed. So please be patient and thank you for understanding. Leave a review, or click the favorite or follow button, I will deeply appreciate it. I'll see you guys in the next chapter. Bye bye for now :D


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